1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a powdery/granular material processing apparatus, more particularly, to a technique of discharging powdery/granular products granulated and coated in a rotary pan of the processing apparatus to the outside of the rotary pan.
2. Related Art Statement
Any of those conventional powdery/granular material processing apparatuses using a rotary pan is normally called a pan coating apparatus, which is used for granulation, coating, blending, and drying a variety of powdery/granular materials including medicine and food for example.
Actually, any of these conventional powdery/granular material processing appratuses still have a technical problem to be solved regarding a method of taking out processed products from the rotary pan. The lack of such a method has created a bottleneck in fully automating the process for discharging finished products.
To solve this problem, there is such an apparatus incorporating product-discharging means called a "trap-door" in the rotary pan.
Neverthless, introduction of the apparatus having the rotary pan incorporating the "trap-door" system results in increased cost. Furthermore, since the system needs to be provided with a container for receiving detergent solution along with a container for receiving finished products, and in addition, due to the needs for allowing insertion of the product-receiving container, the product-discharging port must be provided at a substantial height. This, in turn, expands the entire dimension of the apparatus itself. Furthermore, due to accidental opening of the trap-door, products may fall on the floor.